Monday, November 18, 2013

Downtime: What This Writer Does When She's Not Writing

Perhaps a better title would be "What this writer would LIKE to be doing when she's not writing".

The truth is that this writer has two other jobs in the "real" world and both jobs take a lot of my time away from home (including travel time) and other activities in which I'd like to engage when I'm not sitting at the laptop or with a notebook and pen (yes, I still use those!) Here's some things I'd like to do more of:

1) Read. Yes, I already read voraciously, but if I had more time, I'd read even more! I barely get to scan the news headlines on-line and I've cancelled magazine subscriptions because I just don't have time to read all the articles anymore. Books are in piles waiting to be read. I'd definitely read more!

2) Travel. Not actual vacation trips, but road trips to various nearby places, just to get a change of atmosphere or satisfy my curiosity. Even a drive in the mountains on a Sunday afternoon would be a real treat (especially at this time of year!)

3) Cook. Most days I barely have the time and energy to pull together a real meal for dinner (protein, starch, and two veggies), which I love to do, and have to make do with pre-prepared food or rely on the goodness of my family who lives nearby and often wants to share part of their meal with us... or else hit the only local restaurant in the area, five miles down the road.

4) Bake. I love to bake and I'd do it year round if my kitchen didn't get so darn hot in the summertime! But with the holidays approaching, the baking bug is biting hard and I just don't have time to do all that I'd like to do. Like this:

4) Spend time with my family. Yes, even though I live (literally) next door to Paul's family and less than two hours away from my family, the work takes a toll on my energy and time to spend with them. I'd surely love to find a way to be with our families even more!